Pull Together: The Lost Art of Teamwork and Why It Matters

By Lars Jorgensen

Nearly every human triumph-launching a product, scaling a mountain, or running a race-depends on teamwork. 

As a collegiate head swimming coach and former Olympic swimme

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
• Release date: Aug 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9781544544205

Book preview

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Copyright © 2023 Lars Jorgensen

All rights reserved.

First Edition

ISBN: 978-1-5445-4420-5

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Contents

Introduction

Part I: It’s All About People

1. Leadership

2. Purpose

3. Talent Acquisition

Part II: Culture is Key

4. Team Culture

5. Putting Culture into Place

6. Maintaining Culture

Part III: Taking Action

7. Performance and Winning

8. Legacy

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

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Introduction

It’s all about people.

Whether it’s a company, a team, or an organization, people are what makes everything work.

Regardless of your political ideology, religion, race, or gender, there is almost nothing as fulfilling as being part of a successful team. Contributing to something bigger than ourselves brings true meaning and joy to our lives.

Together Everyone Accomplishes More (TEAM) is not just an acronym, but critical for success. Almost any elite endeavor in our nation’s history was a by-product of robust teamwork. Whether that was the American colonists coming together and defeating the British, the epic win of the 1980 USA Olympic hockey team versus the Soviet Union, or advances in medicine and technology—they have all been accomplished through groups of people collaborating for a common cause.

Most of us, in some form, are part of a team. A team could be your family, a business, or an athletic team. Humans are social animals where connection with each other plays a crucial role in happiness and success. Simply put, we are better together.

If you want to climb a relatively tall mountain by yourself, it’s a daunting task. But if you climb the mountain together as a team, the odds of success increase greatly. Working in a team makes you stronger. Teammates are there to help with ropes, with encouragement, and anything else you may need to conquer the challenge.

The journey, like any journey, starts off relatively easy as you start going through the foothills. However, at some point, the climb becomes increasingly difficult. There are some bumps and bruises. You will encounter pitfalls or obstacles you must overcome. Perhaps someone trips or falls. Maybe you hit rocks or come up on a ledge that goes nowhere and you need to backtrack. Maybe there’s a rockslide.

You must keep moving forward as a team, with each person doing his or her job. You must keep going. You must lift each other up when it’s needed. If someone falls, pick them up and help them continue the climb. When you lift each other up, the odds of reaching the mountaintop increase greatly. Understand that with any elite journey, it’s not for everyone. After all, if it doesn’t challenge you, it will not change you.

As you approach the top of the mountain, the oxygen level decreases, making it more difficult to breathe. The trail becomes more treacherous and steeper. That does not mean you stop climbing. It means you work harder together as a team. You fight for your goal, working together for a common cause.

And, when you reach the peak, it’s an awesome experience to enjoy with your teammates. But it’s only for a moment. To me, the fun is the journey—the ups and downs, the failures and growth. I think if you ask Tom Brady, who has won seven Super Bowls as a quarterback, what he will remember most when he retires, he will say that it’s people—the bus rides, the locker room banter, the film sessions, and the practice required to be the greatest quarterback of all-time. To be great at anything, you have to fall in love with the process and preparation. Most people don’t want to be part of the process, they just want to be part of the outcome. But the process is where you learn and grow as a team.

Teams Aren’t As Successful As They Used to Be

In today’s modern world, it seems that greater attention is given to individual accolades as opposed to overall team success due to the prevalence of the internet and social media where it’s all about me. We are more concerned with Me than We. If that is true, I would argue that many of today’s young employees or athletes are not taught well enough how to be productive and happy members of a team. And when you’re excluded from the team and not doing your job, when you’re concerned about individual success versus team success, the team becomes less effective because you’re creating a divide among its members. This ultimately leads to a weaker team and a decrease in your ability to achieve success.

In order for a team to function effectively, you have to feel part of it, that you’re wanted as a valuable member. When all team members feel valued, the team improves. And, when the team is successful and ultimately wins, you ultimately win too. In addition, as mentioned earlier, you are stronger when part of a team.

Gallup, in a recent 2022 poll of the workplace, found that 60 percent of workers reported being emotionally detached at work and 19 percent as miserable at work. Only 33 percent of people felt engaged at work and with a sense of purpose. The majority felt the lack of culture that emphasizes community and contribution acknowledgement as a primary reason for their dissatisfaction.

Building successful teams and culture is the single most underrated factor in building long-term business success. Many leaders acknowledge the importance but don’t possess the necessary skills to lead and develop teams effectively.

United States President John F. Kennedy said during his inaugural address in 1961, Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. Kennedy’s words apply to more than just country. They apply to teams. Ask a coach or a boss what you can do for your team. Ask how your contributions can benefit it. In what way can you be responsible for the team’s success?

Then take steps to help your team scale that mountain. Work together, aiming for that common goal, that common cause, and rejoice when you reach the top.

The more success your team has, the more money your company will make. In addition, working together increases team happiness and makes the journey more enjoyable. Many people are unhappy at work. They struggle to find meaning and fulfillment in their work and in their lives. But if you create a culture and environment where people truly like to be at work and where they feel that they’re contributing to a team, your team will achieve much greater success than if each person attempted to climb the mountain alone.

Team Means Being Connected

According to author Simon Sinek in his Twitter tweet on June 10, 2022, The goal is to feel part of something, not just play a part in anything. Learning how to become a better team member creates a better team for your company and for you as a part of that team, which leads to great success. If the team wins, everybody wins; it’s not just the individual.

Many people perceive swimming, tennis, and track as individual sports, but there’s always a team behind the athlete who wins a gold medal. In tennis, they always interview the match champions, such as Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, or Novak Djokovic, and almost all of them thank their team: coach, athletic trainer, nutritionist, etc. Although tennis is an individual sport, the team behind each player enables the player to achieve success.

In business, the president of the company or the team leader always has a team behind him or her as well. It’s teamwork that allows the individual or the company to succeed.

The bigger the company, the more teams you have within the organization, and thus, a greater need to work together for a common cause.

Jeff Bezos didn’t create Amazon on his own. Many people worked with him, from the warehouse supervisors to the truck drivers to the legal, engineering, and financial departments, and everyone else who is part of the Amazon team. Together they created this highly successful company.

Steve Jobs created Apple with a team of successful and innovative minds. He developed a company where everyone worked together for a common cause, with many different team members serving a variety of roles.

In sports, Michael Jordan helped the Chicago Bulls win six championships by getting everyone on the team to understand and buy into their roles. Yes, many would argue that he is the greatest basketball player of all time; however, without his team, he may never have won a single title.

Leaders without connected team members can’t lead effectively, and the team will fall apart as a result. So, it’s important to ensure each of your team members feels connected to what you are trying to accomplish. You must also work together and communicate effectively within the entire organization, not just within your team.

When you get to the top of the mountain, everyone on the team celebrates that success, whether it’s achieving a sales goal and receiving a Christmas bonus or winning a team championship. But remember: the journey, not just the destination, is what is truly most important. It’s about having a purpose, a direction, of how you want to help your team create a better environment for success. Success is not just winning; it is feeling part of something special, that you feel valued beyond any sort of revenue you have helped create. Money is a result, not a purpose. Success is about making a contribution to something bigger than yourself.

This book will teach you the roles we play within a team, how to become a valuable member of a team, how to develop leadership within a team, and how to improve the odds that your team will have a better experience and achieve better results, ultimately leading to a better and healthier experience. You will also see why it’s important to be part of a team that values the person first, not just profit margins or championships.

How I Know

I’ve been a part of teams all my life. I have studied in great detail why some teams are more